Open AccessSevere haemolytic disease of a newborn with variant D mimicking blocked-D phenomenon
Author(s) -
Soumya Das,
Shamee Shastry,
Poornima Baliga
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
bmj case reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.231
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 1757-790X
DOI - 10.1136/bcr-2019-231891
Subject(s) - haemolytic disease , medicine , antibody , immunology , agglutination (biology) , titer , disease , antigen , fetus , pregnancy , pathology , biology , genetics
Anti-D is still the most common antibody causing severe haemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN). In a mother with a very high titer of anti-D, antibodies can coat and block the D antigens on the red blood cells of the newborn. This blocking phenomenon prevents agglutination of the D-positive red cells with the IgM anti-D typing reagent, giving false negative results. Here, we report the case of a newborn with variant D phenotype and severe HDFN, which mimicked the blocked-D phenomenon, which, at the first instance, confused both the treating clinicians and the transfusion service personnel.